May 12, 2007

Bearing this in mind, I was wondering about a new page from a Yes Minister script recently discovered in London (the story is that my mate Rob sent a friend of his a Christmas card and it has just arrived).

Minister: Do you realise Humphrey that the Post Office delivered a Christmas Card six months late?

Sir Humphrey: Of course Minister. Staff are very overworked at Christmas- the public continue to send cards, despite the Post Office informing them that it would make much better administrative sense for cards to be sent on every day of the year rather than one- the stress it puts on resources is incalculable.

Minister: But its for Christmas.

Sir Humphrey: Well Minister, the Post Office realises that- but we still face huge staffing problems. So they decided that they would receive the letters over the month before Christmas but to avoid staffing problems and taking on temporary workers, deliver them throughout the year- giving everyone an equal chance to receive their cards on Christmas Day but avoid employing more workers on overtime.

Minister: But Christmas...

Sir Humphrey: Well Minister strictly noone knows when Christ was born none of the gospels say when he was born- so this way the Post Office merely verifies our lack of historical knowledge by sending out Christmas Cards every day of the year- we don't know which day is Christmas afterall and the public very ignorantly send their cards out for one day of the year- well we have a system that corrects for that and provides a cheap and efficient service for the nation.